Abstract
Charophytes are the group of green algae whose ancestral lineage gave rise to land plants in what resulted in a profoundly transformative event in the natural history of the planet. Extant charophytes exhibit many features that are similar to those found in land plants and their relatively simple phenotypes make them efficacious organisms for the study of many fundamental biological phenomena. Several taxa including Micrasterias, Penium, Chara, and Coleochaete are valuable model organisms for the study of cell biology, development, physiology and ecology of plants. New and rapidly expanding molecular studies are increasing the use of charophytes that in turn, will dramatically enhance our understanding of the evolution of plants and the adaptations that allowed for survival on land. The Frontiers in Plant Science series on “Charophytes” provides an assortment of new research reports and reviews on charophytes and their emerging significance as model plants.
Highlights
Charophytes or basal Streptophytes; (Becker and Marin, 2009; Leliaert et al, 2012) constitute a diverse taxonomic assortment of extant freshwater and terrestrial green algae that display a wide array of unicellular, filamentous, and “parenchymatous” forms (Graham, 1993; Lewis and McCourt, 2004)
An ancestral lineage of charophytes emerged onto and colonized land 450–500 million years ago. These organisms adapted to terrestrial conditions, became capable of surviving and reproducing when fully exposed to the atmosphere, and some members evolved into land plants (Zhong et al, 2013; Delwiche and Cooper, 2015)
The Frontiers in Plant Science series on “Charophytes” illustrates the importance of these organisms in several specific areas of plant biology research. This mini-review highlights the attributes of charophytes as model organisms
Summary
Charophytes or basal Streptophytes; (Becker and Marin, 2009; Leliaert et al, 2012) constitute a diverse taxonomic assortment of extant freshwater and terrestrial green algae that display a wide array of unicellular, filamentous, and “parenchymatous” forms (Graham, 1993; Lewis and McCourt, 2004). An ancestral lineage of charophytes emerged onto and colonized land 450–500 million years ago These organisms adapted to terrestrial conditions, became capable of surviving and reproducing when fully exposed to the atmosphere, and some members evolved into land plants (Zhong et al, 2013; Delwiche and Cooper, 2015). In the six class phylogeny, the third class, the Klebsormidiophyceae, consists of three genera that form simple unbranched filaments (Sluiman et al, 2008) that often are members of “biological crusts” growing upon surfaces of various terrestrial habitats Several species in this class can even withstand significant desiccation stress when part of desert crusts (Mikhailyuk et al, 2008, 2014; Holzinger and Karsten, 2013); others are tolerant to the desiccation stresses associated with low temperature environments (Stamenkovic et al, 2014; Herburger and Holzinger, 2015). The zygnematophycean algae are common inhabitants of freshwater habitats, sometimes occurring in spectacular ephemeral blooms, as well as in moist terrestrial substrates
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